Tuesday, March 04, 2008

I was quite appalled to read Chandra Muzaffar's very personal attack against Anwar Ibrahim (read today's the Star's report, here ) when he said that it will be an “unmitigated disaster” for Malaysia if Anwar becomes prime minister. Since he was a top PKR man himself, it is rather daunting to imagine the sudden wave of disillusionment that must have swept over such a 'brilliant' man and cause him to utter such balls.

I first met Dr. Chandra Muzaffar (photo) sometime in early 1983. He was then riding high as an academic cum NGO human rights activist and had been invited to speak at an Asia Pacific Regional Conference of the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF) in Kuala Lumpur, which I chaired as a founder chairman of the ITF Malaysian Council. I cannot recall what he spoke about, something about union rights I think, but I remember the strike-happy Aussie dockers unions were full of praise of him and wanted cassette tape copies of his speech. I wasn't very impressed and neither was the late Dr. V. David of the Transport Workers Union, who co-chaired the conference. We believed then that it was easy to be gung-ho and say a lot things when you are not carrying the baby or be responsible for the rights and livelihood of many member workers.

Perhaps there is something to be said about the old adage: "Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach". So perhaps also Chandra should just stick to teaching and not get involved in politics and the affairs of men.

It doesn't baffle me my dear. Muzaffar is not a sellout. He is a disgrace. Honestly speaking, I smypathise with him rather than lambasting him because his juvenile character unearthes his real self. Remember, language is the dress of man's thought. I remember him calling BN unprintable names. Today, it is a different thing. There is no problem in him leaving PKR or joining BN, the problem is his buffoonery. His unequalled stupidity in thinking that we can't think, read and write and compare notes. I wish him well.

Pak, does it have something with masuk melayu? You know these kind of elements are the worst? No principles, greedy and pussyfooters.

I too find the personal attack on Anwar Ibrahim by Chandra Muzaffar, as reported in the Star, to be appalling, I have met Dr Chandra a few times, his intellect and knowledge are undeniable. One can but wonder why he has come out with such an attack, the timing of which can only be called opportunistic and politically motivated. He will, without doubt, have lost a lot of respect by making this personal attack.

It is not just shocking but will remain a bad example. This in no uncertain terms marks the collapse of whatever credibility he carried. People do not forget History and neither will History lie, Dr Chandra. And with that Aliran remains a permanent victim too.J.D. LovrenciearSemenyih

we could support someone full heartedly, but at the same time we just cannot closed out heart to others opinion. If we could rethink what Chandra was saying, I think there are some truth, if not wholly in it. To support someone is okey, but lets dont do it blindly.

Wise guys always open both sides of the hearts, so the wise man says...

While I was walking the market this morning, some people stopped me and expressed their disgust with Chandra Mustafa for what he said in the Star report today (March 4).

To me, Chandra’s attack on Anwar is nothing new. What he has done was not unexpected. The BN must be very desperately running out of ammunition, even Chandra is now their last cannon.

Chandra’s statement failed to harm the opposition or Anwar. Instead his integrity is publicly damaged.

I wonder Chandra was always conscious of Anwar’s ‘misdeed’ during his government days? Or this knowledge was an “after-thought” of his post-KeADILan days? If so, who could have imparted such privileged information onto him?

Chandra left the party when I was in ISA detention. His departure saddened me (and many party members), as Chandra was one of the persons who had persuaded me persistently to join the party.

Initially I was reluctant, my reason was that I preferred to stay as an NGO activist.

If Chandra had already known Anwar’s wrongdoings, he shouldn’t have recruited me into the party. He should have told me and warned me of the “danger” of associating with Anwar.

The logic of this is simple, either Chandra was dishonest to me at the time of the party foundation, or he is being dishonest now.

I wonder if Chandra knew then all Anwar’s flaws and mistakes (when he was in government), why was he so enthusiastically defending Anwar for many years.

Despite of his popularity as an NGO advocate, Chandra has behaved like lalang throughout his career. I used to look up to him in my university days. However in 1996 when Malaysian NGOs hosted the controversial “Asia-Pacific Conference on East Timor” (APCET II), I was very disappointed when he refused to support the initiative. Worse, he condemned the human rights NGOs for defying Malaysian order and jeopardized our diplomatic relationship with Indonesia.

Chandra has just made another transformation, from ‘neutral’ NGO he is now an apologist for UMNO/BN.

Dr Chandra Muzaffar, a self-proclaimed intellectual and arm-chair critic of BN of yesteryears, suddenly saw it fit to allow himself to be manipulated by the Barang Naik party to cast malicious aspersion against Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim and to indirectly influence Malaysians not to support the opposition.

This is, for all intent and purpose, an affront to basic freedom and democracy.

For a start, Chandra is just an intellectual fraud. He only pays lip-service to words like freedom and democracy.

In 1998/99 I was sacked from the DAP under strange circumstances and many other DAP leaders throughout the nation resigned from the DAP. At the same time, we were thinking of joining PKR in order to carry on our struggles against injustices, corruptions and abuses of power. During that period, Chandra was the Deputy President of PKR and he, as unreasonable as it was, saw it fit to make a unilateral declaration that all former DAP leaders were banned from joining PKR.

To say the least, this behaviour of his was absolutely bizarre and mind-boggling.

We were extremely shocked and disappointed with Chandra, whom we thought was a real democrat and a great defender of freedom and injustice. After the said infamous declaration of his putting a blanket-ban on former DAP leaders from joining PKR, we knew then that Chandra was merely an arm-chair critic and intellectual fraud when it comes to freedom and democracy.

Whatever Chandra had uttered last night at the forum organised by The Star was not unexpected given his past record. And those utterances should be consigned to the foul-smelling garbage bins much like his mouth at the time surely.

Moreover, Chandran’s vile gibberish of last night was also verbiage and an obvious act of sabotage against the people of this country.

We call upon Chandra to carry on being an arm-chair critic in his academic ‘prison’ and to immediately stop insulting the intelligence of the public.

Chandra would also do well to go back to school to re-learn the basic principles of freedom and democracy.

Hey! Dr Chandra Muzaffar are you trying to dazzle the poor Malaysians with your “Doctor” whatever that stands for; please la Doc. That Phd. Does not mean shit, It does not make you more intelligent and it does not neam that you are any smater than when you started. A Phd. Just means that you had taken an in depth study of one aspect of a subject and as a matter of fact a Phd merely leads to a career in teaching, Our Asian people are so awed by that Phd., thinking that these Phd. Types Know it all, nothing is further from the truth.

Comrade Chandra to my way of thinking, and by your claims made against Dato Seri, I say that you are bloody naïve. We are all humans (I think so) and we have emotions and full of bias and prejudices; and above all we are in truth all racist. I am racist & you are racist, and the only difference between a Mahatma Ghandi type saint and an ARYAN Nazi thug is that most of us who dare claim that he is not racist (you can leave me out because I am racist) are those who’ve got a two bit claim to having higher education, a wanna be intelltual. Comrade Chandra says that Dato Seri in the past had been consistently not in favour of Chinese and maybe he is truthful, while Dr Lim Kheng Yaik claims that Dato Seri is chamileon and in Lim Kheng Yaik’s experience with Dato Seri he could be speaking the truth. Bearing in mind that we all carry a lot of baggage are we correct in our estimation of the man. We are all very complex and we are all driven by self interests; therefore what oue see is not really what is the man ! We can never tell what a man will do in all circumstances because what we see as the man is only the tip of the iceberg.

Politics is all about perception and creating an IMAGE of the politician, and we just cannot know what the whole man is in truth. For Dr Chandra & Dr Lim Kheng Yaik to say that they both ahd worked with Dato Seri and that they know the man is ingenious. Both these Dr.’s are playing their support for the BN and not quite really to give an assessment of Dato Seri for what he is factually, because that will be beyond their capability. Having said that I say both of them are naïve THAT IS NOT HOW THE GAME OF POLITICS IS PLAYED. We can only take Dato Seri at his word and the issue is therefore ARE WE HAPPY WITH HIS PROGRAMME FOR HIS GOVERNMENT ? That to my mind is all that we need to ask and we will have to take him at his word; because we just cannot do otherwise. WE DO NOT NEED TO KNOW WHAT IN TRUTH HE IS LIKE AND THAT BY OUR UNDERSTANDING HE WILL OR WILL NOT DLIVER WHAT HE HAD PROMISED FOR THE ELECTION. There is no need to go too far out of the way; ask yourselves what had BN promised for the last election (1999) and did BN deliver ? I do not think so !

Dato Seri and the United Front of DAP, PAS and Keadilan HAS MADE IT THEIR PLATFORM that if elected he and his United Front will deliver a GOVERNMENT FOR ALL MALAYSIANS AND TO STEP BACK FROM RACE BASED POLITICS. That is what we must accept for the truth; and if he ever fail to deliver then the next election vote him and his United Front out. This is what will therefore develop into a TWO PARTY POLITICAL STRUCTURE. Is this not what we want, and what is the profit if we just not believe him and we merely take the word og the two Dr.’s both of them are pretentious and know it all. I say do not listen to them shooting hot air. VOTE OPPOSITION and let 2 party politics develop.

Dear A.M.," When a man has great deal of knowledge,it becomes extremely easy for him to confuse 'knowledge' with 'wisdom'...and forget that the antonym of 'wisdom' is not 'ignorance' but 'folly'"...McCord Renoyld.

My guess is that Mr Chandra has both that ignoramous and follistitute(word derive fr a lady of the night on a folly) self to show...so listen all this self annointed failed political expert.

capt., having glanced through the 3 'reports' recently by the so-called friends and ex-collegue of Anwar. Iwant to say my piece too. I knew Anwar as a fire-brand from the days as a student leader. When the MEGALOMANIA was able to 'capture' him to join UMNO, I wasn't that surpriesd, because Megalomania had plan to be Teng Siao Peng and he must have had thought 'I could rein him in'. So Anwar met a man who built him politically in UMNO,[ Anwar did not need Megalomania;s help at the national stage] and when he found that he couldn't rein him in, he 'fixed' him up!Now, coming to the ex-minister's cry that Anwar was anti-Chinese, I would like him to answer this question: What did you do? You are the self-proclaimed' hero of the Chinese welfare. Did bang the table and threatened to quit? Did you bravely rell the whole world that you did subscribe to the Goemn policy? You did NOTHING! You just hid your 'tail' between your 4 legs and crawled out! LKY [ apology to the real LKY, I hope this does not stain my respect for you]I used to respect you for your stand when you quit MCA, you had BEARINGS, but now it is time to go, so go quietly. Your son, if he can win, he will have the family's share of the national loot!!Whereas in the case of the next 2 scumbags,both of you are suppose to be rather intelligent, how come it took both of you so many years to find out the 'weaknesses' of Anwar?. Of the human race, we detest the most are turncoats! In more chivalrous time, there would be only one SOLUTION to bumps like both of you.Chandra, your are an intellectual with PHD. you must have had felt that by virtual of your paper, you should be more acceptable than Anwar. No! in life you must accept the fact that ANwar has been given the gift of the gap to lead, you have to follow!! No matter who you think you are in your own perception. This country needs a more dynamic leadership to lead Malaysians out of the WILDERNESS! Srry to say you haven't got any percentage of what he has got!As the the third A>>>h>>, I would be easting my time on a such a character.I heard many of Anwar's distractors saying Anwar was equally guilty of corruption. If indeed, there were, name the incidents where he was involved. Having sen him being 'fixed' up by the Magalomania, a lesser man would have had seek 'a personal solution'. Be prepared to fade away with 'compromises' along with it whatever financial benefits available. After all, by not having to go to court with Anwar, the Megalomania could be still sittingup there, without us having to face the current problem.I understand Anwar to be an INCORRIGIBLE socialist, HIS CONSCIENCE WILL ALWAYS PRICK HIM WHENEVER HIS DREAMS GO OVER-BOARD!By the way in 2004, I lost dinners over the performance of the LEADER within 12 months he was given the 'throne'. He failed miserably!!

I observed that he's perhaps trying to curry flavor for favor; I think he needs something from the establishment, maybe he is aiming to get back to MU or USM as vice-chancellor. I believe he is up to something personal; it's just an intuition.

It is simply amazing how someone who was deemed “irrelevant” by the caretaker PM and of whom the mainstream media (MSM) chose to send into oblivion has now become the cover story of the MSM – for very obvious reasons of course!

“Who is Anwar? ” the PM had asked sarcastically. He is finished. His political career has folded up. But now, almost every other day Pak Lah answers his own question! Anwar’s “spirit” haunts, hounds and heckles him – even though Anwar is not eligible to stand!

Very evidently the script and sandiwara for the General Elections by the boys on the Fourth Floor have spun out of control. The sycophants surrounding the PM have been caught with their pants down.

In comes an eminent human rights advocate who would spew out an “intellectual” diatribe – Chandra Muzaffar – a man whom in elections of recent times (except when he was in the Opposition) the BN would unleash before the final curtain.

“If Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim becomes Prime Minister, it will be an ‘unmitigated disaster’ for Malaysia. . . he is not the sort of leader the country needs as he is now singing a different tune from when he was in the Government, ” charged Chandra, the former deputy president of PKR.

Chandra changed?

A member of the public named “Amar” who wrote to the editor of Malaysiakini pointed out that the “examples he (Chandra) quotes in the report were events that happened way before Anwar lost Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s patronage and interestingly, these were events that took place before Anwar’s reformasi movement commenced. ”

“On what basis did Chandra join PKR as deputy president given that he had reservations over Anwar’s past decisions? ” he quite appropriately asked.

In a similar vein respected journalist and former MP James Wong Wing On quotes a retired academician who attended the forum during which “Chandra Muzaffar had ‘really succeeded’ in damaging or even destroying his own credibility by re-launching ‘a very bitter and vindictive’ attack on Anwar Ibrahim’s ‘past records’ in the BN government”:

“If Chandra Muzaffar had always known Anwar’s "past records" in BN…why did he continue to support Anwar in the period from 1998 to 1999 and also became Parti Keadilan Nasional’s deputy president and its parliamentary candidate in the 1999 general election? ”

A “Aril Mikhail” wrote to Malaysiakini highlighting the irony that “Chandra is ‘coming clean’ and saying all this of Anwar now, when he himself appears to be doing the exact opposite of what he was doing when in Aliran and PKR. Before, he consistently argued against the BN having a two-thirds majority and the need for a strong opposition. ”

“Now, on the eve of the elections, he seemingly dismisses the opposition and asserts that, despite its flaws, there is no other viable coalition beyond the BN. How fortuitous. I guess when you’ve been offered a cushy position in a state university for two years, you tend to ‘change’ somewhat.

“Dear Chandra, selling out is fine. But becoming a willing tool of a corrupt, arrogant and racist regime at this critical juncture devalues, indeed destroys, whatever good work you may have done thus far. May God guide you, ” was Mikhail’s parting blessing!

In other words, it appears Chandra is also singing a different tune?

Chandra Confused?

In their response to Chandra’s cutting criticism of Anwar, the Malaysian Media Monitors’ Diary, a joint project of Charter 2000-Aliran, the Centre for Independent Journalism and the Writers Alliance for Media Independence, along with independent volunteers, showed how confused Chandra was:

“Chandra also expressed his fear of serious polarisation in the country: ‘My fear is that this coming election will reinforce and aggravate the ethnic polarisation if a large number of non-Malays vote for the Opposition, and worse if a large percentage of Malays vote for the Opposition. This will cause Umno to be very cautious in making any changes to the ethnic question and addressing issues related to religion. ’

“Such an argument only raises further questions: in the first place, isn’t the increase in polarisation due to ethnic-based policies and practices of the past Umno-led administrations, as alluded to by Chandra himself? If so, how on earth could Umno be relied upon to make meaningful changes that could redress problems related to ethnicity and religion?

“And why was there an emergence of amorphous groups such as Hindraf that articulate legitimate grievances (to a large extent) from a particular ethnic community?

“Secondly, how can ethnic polarisation worsen if both the non-Malays and the Malays vote for the Opposition? If anything, a multi-ethnic ruling coalition and a multi-ethnic opposition would lessen polarisation and ensure that issues raised are debated in the interests of all Malaysians. Is it the only the Barisan Nasional that can resolve ethnic issues and polarisation. The record indicates otherwise. ”

Chandra Consistent?

Chandra also said “the most important quality of a leader in a multi-ethnic country was honesty and when a leader spoke on sensitive ethnic issues, he must say the same thing to non-Malays as to the Malays…You cannot play games because it is very dangerous. "

There could be no better response to this than that provided by the Malaysian Media Monitors’ Diary: ”If, as rightly pointed out by Chandra, the issue of trust and honesty is vital, then shouldn’t we, or rather forum moderator Wong Chun Wai, also ask whether leaders such as keris-wielding Hishamuddin can be trusted to be one of the country’s leaders.

“After all, didn’t Hishamuddin change his political stance pertaining to the issue of Chinese and Tamil schools in the country in the run-up to the general election? Isn’t that political expedience of the highest degree?

“Hasn’t his tune changed? Wasn’t it in Umno that you had a few politicians talking of unsheathing the keris and threatening to bathe it with Chinese blood? Did this escape Wong’s (or Chandra’s) memory? ”

Yes, what about the “honesty” of caretaker deputy prime minister Najib Tun Razak who in 1987, as UMNO Youth Chief, vowed to bathe the keris with Chinese blood, and who now never fails to spew out a verbal diarrhea of multi-racial mutterings?

As for consistency, did the caretaker PM not preach to the gathering of Christians at the Plenary Commission on Faith and Order of the World Council of Churches at the beginning of his premiership on “Dialogue The Key To Unity Of Multireligious, Multiethnic And Multicultural Societies” and yet, four years later ban the Building Bridges Conference, a inter-religious seminar meant to bring together Christian and Muslim scholars of international repute?

Alas, Chandra seems so out of tune! Even the Aliran Executive Committee feels so. In a statement today they provide two examples: “It is odd, (therefore, ) that Chandra should be so concerned about the problem of money politics in PKR per se. At the same time, he has not said much of late about the money politics which has always been associated with the BN. ”

”Chandra also has highlighted the supposedly racial scare tactics used by PKR during the Lunas by-election. For us, such dirty tricks have been resorted to by all parties especially the BN. Again, all forms of racial baiting by all parties should be condemned. ”

Chandra’s chicanery?

In recent years, Anwar has in fact addressed what Chandra has accused him off. As Aril Mikhail has put it quite succinctly: “The gist of Chandra’s personal attack is that Anwar is saying things now that are the opposite of what he said and did when he was high up in Umno. This, of course, is nothing new and Anwar himself has addressed these criticisms often enough. ”

Indeed quite recently Anwar has met head-on criticisms and the portrayal of him as a political chameleon (especially by the MCA). When asked to respond to a 4-page leaflet by the MCA entitled “Disclosing the true face of Anwar”, Anwar said:

“The notion that I’m a political chameleon misses things by a mile…Nothing I did and said in the language and cultural spheres were not standard BN-Umno policy and nowhere did I take my championing of any issue to the extent that I waved a keris and called for bloodletting, stirring crowds to emotive outbursts” (Malaysiakini).

Anwar was referring to the October 1987 Umno Youth-led demonstration in Kuala Lumpur where a band of Malay leaders, including present Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak, harangued the crowd with inflammatory rhetoric.

At that time, the posting of non-Mandarin speaking administrators to government-aided Chinese schools ratcheted up racial tension in the country: “Those were fraught times and I hold that the distinction one ought to make between a responsible and a chauvinistic leader in that context lay in how you argued your point without inflaming public sentiment.

“I stood on the sane side of that divide while there were others in power today who breached that line with impunity, ” he said.

In early February this year, Anwar subjected himself to a rigorous examination of his stances on religious issues in the presence of about 200 Christian clerics and lay activists and appeared to have emerged intact (Malaysiakini).

There was no variance between his public pronouncements and his private assurances to his inquisitors, said an observer at the closed-door dialogue held in Petaling Jaya, organised by the Christian Federation of Malaysia.

Chandra’s Condemnation

There also remains the hopeful reality that politicians do and can change for the better through time and circumstance. James Wong quotes a good Christian friend who also attended the forum wherein Chandra spoke:

“…whatever his "past records" in the BN government, Anwar has ‘cleansed’ himself by his willingness to suffer grave injustices and tortures from 1998 to 2004, and also by working hard now to oppose BN’s unjust policies. Seen in this light, Anwar is definitely a better person than those in the BN who still refuse to make amends for the better. ”

“Has Dr. Chandra Muzaafar himself changed for the better or worse? ” asked James Wong

By portraying Anwar as untrustworthy and unprincipled Chandra is pronouncing the “death sentence” on the man who has already paid a very costly price for challenging the head of a hegemony who was capable of the most heinous!

Chandra also confounded the whole country when he said that although BN was “flawed”, there was no other coalition in the country. In its statement Aliran stated that it “does not share Chandra’s recent remarks vis-à-vis Anwar Ibrahim and PKR. Neither do we share his views that the BN despite its flaws is a better choice. Indeed, we are rather perturbed by his apparently emotional outburst. ”

Asked why he was breaking his silence now, Chandra said it appeared that people were being deceived by Anwar and (i)t is something for which I am prepared to go on record now so that people will not be deceived".

Chandra should keep in mind what he had once declared: “Malaysians are not idiots or imbeciles. ”

Apparently Aliran was not satisfied with the answer given by its former president and so it stated and asked: “The most disturbing aspect of this episode is how Dr Chandra Muzaffar has wittingly or unwittingly lent himself to be a part of the BN propaganda machine. It is sad that a prominent intellectual and long-time activist of his standing has such a blinkered view of the issue at hand. We wonder why he did not make these alleged goings-on public earlier and follow up on them conclusively given his public stance on integrity and accountability. Why only now? "

I had thought this man ah very good one ah. Brain power very good one ah...very er...don't what's that word-la, but very, very lah, you know-lah, too much cells, yeah, the one in the head -lah, not the one swimming in the dark cave at the bottom part, got very connected one-la, until I found-la that he-ah, he very high, high one oh, you know, only him, never you one oh...

The frantic smear campaign by the Barisan leaders against Anwar, repeated and amplified by the UMNO controlled TV stations, is evidence of the effectiveness of his campaign.

They deny him an opportunity to refute their allegations and have resurrected the failed, egoistic and discredited politician “scholar” Chandra Muzaffar and hired scribes to defame Anwar in the media.

Chandra now claims that if Anwar, who is now out of power, becomes Prime Minister it would be an unmitigated disaster for Malaysia but he was singing a different tune when Anwar was in power as Deputy Prime Minister.

He was, then, promoting Anwar as the successor to Dr Mahathir. In a piece he wrote in The Star he eulogized Anwar as the leader who is concerned about, and looking after, the welfare of the poor and the lower income group. With a forked tongue, he now accuses Anwar of dishonesty and singing a different tune from when he was in government.

I f we examine Chandra’s history of political involvement we can see his disillusionment with trying to become a self proclaimed reformer and a desire to attach himself to those in power. He was once a bitter critic of Dr Mahathir and an ardent supporter of Tengku Razaleigh and his Semangat 46. His object was to weaken UMNO but when it became clear that Tengku had no chance of assuming power Chandra abandoned him and Semangat 46.

He was then jobless when Anwar picked him up and gave him a job in the University Science Malaysia. Then he became a confidante and trusted adviser of Anwar. Using Anwar he managed to get close to Mahathir. He organized an international human rights conference and got Mahathir to declare it open. Many human rights groups criticized him for inviting Mahathir who they considered responsible for the destruction of the independence of our judiciary and violation of human rights. Chandra was seen by them as an opportunist sucking up to power instead of speaking truth to power.

After Mahathir sacked Anwar, Chandra became the de facto leader of Keadilan and contested the elections and lost. Also Anwar was convicted by the courts on criminal charges and there was no hope of him coming out of prison for more than 10 years if Mahathir continued to be in power. With a lot of infighting in Keadilan and Anwar in prison, Keadilan had no hope of denting Mahathir’s power.

It is at this stage that he decided to abandon Anwar and Keadilan which he regarded as a sinking ship. He then cultivated the friendship of Khairy Jamaluddin and got close to his father-in-law Datuk Abdullah Badawi, the then Deputy Prime Minister. He started praising Mahathir, who had been the target of his venomous attacks just months ago, including labelling him Mahafiraun. To curry favour with the government he began attacking Anwar.

He is now very comfortable running an NGO with the support of those in power and preaching morality and ethics to the world at large. His morality includes supporting a party that has an uninterrupted record of violation human rights, abuse of power, and corruption.

Whether Anwar will be an unmitigated disaster to Malaysia is academic and has yet to be seen. But Chandra has proved to be an unmitigated disaster to Keadilan, Anwar, and those who are seduced by his rhetoric without substance.

A very interesting blog with 'volumes' of sane minded citizens who could reason properly and argue out their points rationally. Congrats on your interesting web-blog. Keep up the good work, Captains and the crews. Cheers!

I started reading Chandra's articles in Aliran when I was at Uni in UK. Chandra was one of the few people who inspired an impressionable and idealistic undergrad like me and fanned my idealism. Indeed, one of the reasons why I came back as soon as I finished my studies although I loved England was to participate in human rights and social activism.

As a blogger said above, I was stunned when Chandra organised that so-called international human rights conference (which was really US-bashing) and Dr.M was invited to open it. 1988 was the year of the horrendous, horrific blights on our history, the emasculation of the judiciary and Operation Lallang. Wasn't Chandra one of the detainees? How could CM invite this man who was responsible for the destruction of so many ideals that we held dear to open a conference on something that he has no respect?? Oh God, ladies and gentlemen, Pak Lah is nothing compared to this man and his diatribes, the way he twisted facts and information...or as we called it, disinformation. Today he is quoted as he is some kind of a benevolent statesman. I am sorry if I digress but I shudder when I recollect my memories and experiences.

Ever since that fiasco, I stopped trusting and believing CM. Looks like the leopard has not changed its spots...or maybe a chamaleon changing its colour??

It is no wonder that they said idols do have feet of clay. I found that to be true to my disillusionment.

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